National Parks Are Fee-Free June 9 To Celebrate Get Outdoors Day

by Kraig Becker on

America’s national parks will once again waive all entry fees next Saturday, June 9, in celebration of National Get Outdoors Day. Visitors to any one of the more than 397 national parks, memorials and monuments across the U.S. will be granted free entrance all day long.

National Get Outdoors Day was created five years ago as an effort to encourage more Americans to go outside and enjoy nature. The event has become a collaboration between federal agencies, nonprofit organizations and the recreation industry who all work together to promote a variety of outdoor experiences. While these efforts are aimed at the U.S. population as a whole, the focus is on getting first time visitors to take advantage of public lands, as well as reconnecting young people to the outdoors.

In addition to fee-free entry to the national parks, there are 122 official National Get Outdoors Day locations spread out across the U.S. Each of these locations will play host to a number of scheduled events throughout the day and they offer further opportunities to celebrate the occasion. For instance, those living near Highlands Ranch, Colorado, can join the First Annual Backcountry Community Campout, while residents of New Jersey may want to visit Field Station: Dinosaurs to get in on the fun.

Even if you aren’t able to visit a national park or take advantage of one of these events, remind yourself to get outside on June 9. Summer is here and it’s the weekend, so there are no excuses for not participating.

This is the last fee-free day at the national parks until September 29, so take advantage of it while you can. For a complete list of the parks that will waive the entry fee on June 9 click here.

Denali National Park Introduces New Sled Dog Pups

by Kraig Becker on

One of the great annual traditions at Denali National Park is the arrival of a new litter of sled dog pups. The park, which is located in Alaska‘s spectacular and remote wilderness, maintains its own sled dog team for use in patrolling the region throughout the long winter months. Without these teams much of Denali would not be accessible for portions of the year, which makes these trusty canines an important part of the park service team.

In order to maintain a strong and healthy sled dog team the onsite kennel breeds a single female each year. This year that lucky mom is a dog named Sultana, who gave birth to three pups a few weeks back. The names of those new pups hasn’t been announced yet, but they have been introduced to the world via the kennel’s live webcam.

When breeding huskies to be a part of the Denali sled dog team, the kennel is looking for strong dogs with long legs that can easily break trail in deep snow. They also prefer compact paws that can resist the build-up of snow and ice, as well as thick coats and puffy tails to keep the dogs warm in the Alaskan winters. It is too early yet to know if these new pups will exhibit all of those traits but considering their parents were hand picked it is likely they’ll join the team sometime in the future.

For now, the pups will stay in the kennel, and on webcam, until they are old enough to start their training. That means that throughout the summer we’ll be able to watch them grow up before our very eyes. Stop back whenever you need a quick dose of cute.

[Photo courtesy Denali National Park Facebook Page]

Should Hunting Be Allowed In America’s National Parks?

by Kraig Becker on

Should hunting be allowed inside America’s national parks? That’s the question that the U.S. Senate will soon be dealing with as they debate the merits of HR 4089, better known as the Sportsman’s Heritage Act. The controversial bill was passed by the House of Representatives in April and could be coming to the floor of the Senate as well. If it does manage to become a law, HR 4089 would open most of the National Park System to hunting, trapping and recreational shooting.

Since their inception, the national parks have been designed to protect America’s heritage and natural landscapes, and those protections have always extended to the wildlife that roamed those regions as well. In the past it has taken – quite literally – an act of Congress to allow hunting within a park’s boundaries, but with this new bill hunting, trapping and sport shooting could become commonplace.

In addition to the traditional national parks that we all know and love, such as Yellowstone and Yosemite, the park system is made up of a number of other entities as well. These include national monuments, memorials, military and historic parks and more. All of them could potentially fall under the jurisdiction of this new law, allowing hunting in such places as Gettysburg or Valley Forge for example.The Sportsman’s Heritage Act does have specific language written into it that provides for exemptions to the law in parks and monuments specifically. But those exemptions need to be decided on an individual basis, which can be a time consuming and costly affair. Furthermore, the wording of the bill fails to mention the other park units such as memorials, historic parks and the other places mentioned above. In other words, it would encompass each of those places unless they are specifically singled out for exemption.

The National Parks Conservation Association has worked in conjunction with the law firm of Arnold & Porter, LLP to examine the legal ramifications of the bill, and they’ve found that it could be quite costly as well. HR 4089’s approach to opening the park system up for hunting, trapping and sport shooting means that each of the units will have to do their own individual study to determine if they should allow those activities or not. Considering there are 397 units within the system, that could mean a lot of money spent on conducting that research.

The NPCA is also quick to point out that the bill would allow for the use of off-road vehicles wherever they are needed by hunters and trappers to engage in those activities. Most of the parks don’t currently allow the use of 4×4’s off of pavement, but this would open it up for their use in many other places. Considering the damage that they can do to the environment, their use seems to run counter to the idea of actually protecting these wild spaces.

As a traveler, i personally enjoy exploring the national parks because they are beautiful, serene environments. I can’t imagine visiting Rocky Mountain National Park for example, spending hours scrambling to the top of the famous Longs Peak, only to be greeted by gunshots from elk hunters. Or as a parent, can you imagine having to explain to a young park visitor why the vehicle sitting next to yours has a deer strapped across its hood? The parks are places of refuge and in my opinion they should stay that way. There are plenty of other places in the U.S. to hunt and trap, but we should keep those activities out of the parks themselves. If you agree, click here to express your concerns to your local congressman.

Tickets Now On Sale For The Luxurious Boeing 787 Dreamliner

by Jessica Festa on




For those who haven’t heard about the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, it’s a luxurious aircraft with space for 219 passengers, large windows with an adjustable tint, spacious storage compartments, lower cabin altitude, higher humidity levels, a quieter and less-turbulent cabin, faster flying, tech enhancements and 20 percent less fuel usage than normal airplanes.

Do you want to try this innovative airplane out for yourself? Tickets for U.S. passengers to ride the new aircraft have just gone on sale, as United Airlines announced a daily, nonstop Denver-to-Tokyo route. Passengers can book now for travel beginning March 31, 2013.

“I want to recognize the efforts of Mayor Hancock, Kim Day, Manager of Aviation, and her team at Denver International Airport, and the business and civic leaders in Denver who have worked together to bring this great new international destination to our customers in Denver,” said Jeff Smisek, United’s President and CEO. “Our customers will enjoy the direct, nonstop service on our new Boeing Dreamliner aircraft, which will provide a spectacular flying experience.” For a visual idea of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, check out the video above.

The Golden Gate Bridge Celebrates Its 75th Anniversary With Lots Of Sparkle

by Jessica Marati on

Few American landmarks are as recognized, photographed and beloved as the Golden Gate Bridge, which celebrated its 75th anniversary this weekend with a full slate of free performances, festivals and fireworks displays around San Francisco and the Bay Area.

The weekend’s festivities were the highlight of a full year of celebrations, which included exhibits, lectures, performances, concerts and film screenings dedicated to the iconic landmark. One thing visitors shouldn’t expect is unrestricted pedestrian access; city officials learned their lesson from the bridge’s 50th anniversary celebrations, when more than 300,000 people crowded the main thoroughfare causing the center portion of the bridge to flatten out.

In appropriate fashion, the bridge also received a touch of “sparkle” for its 75th, in the form of a new art and science installation called Solar Beacon, which opened on Sunday. According to the Los Angeles Times, the installation involves a set of remote control mirrors positioned on top of the bridge’s towers, which have the capacity to reflect narrow beams of light across the San Francisco Bay. The installation will also be participatory; residents are invited to log onto Solar Beacon’s website and input a particular place and time, and the project will direct the light’s beam there.

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[flickr image above via Argent_G37S]